Up at 6 a.m.
Cup of tea, mango, juice… Mmm…
I’m not going swimming today, because at Daaibooi there are lots of families with tents and barbecues very early in the morning at the weekend. There’s no sun at Karakter so early in the morning. At 7:30 a.m., I go to Norma’s, but she’s just woken up. She was out until three in the morning at the ‘snekkie’ on the corner. She drank too much and has a slight headache, so she needs some rest. She asks me if I can bring her a bottle of salt water from Daaibooi on Monday.
Then I go to Stella. She is already busy in the garden with her plants. There is a dog in the garden that does not belong to her, and it has to be removed! It got in through a gate that no longer closes properly. It is a bit stuck in the sand. I ask Stella if she has a shovel. Yes, she does, so I dig the gate out of the sand so it can close again. Stella says, ‘An angel came down from heaven for me this morning, an angel who came to help me’… I have to laugh. Stella offers me a cup of coffee, but I say that I want to go to Tera Cora first, to the bakery, and that I’ll bring some ‘pan dushi’ for her. No sooner said than done. First, I fill up at the petrol station in Tera Cora. You can even pay with an MCB credit card there! Long live progress!
Then on to the panaderia. I buy eight pan dushi and have to pay six guilders. Two for Mem and Thelma, two for Stella, two for Janus and two for myself. Norma doesn’t want any. Headache!

Then we sit with Mama Irma and chat, well, chat, she’s tired, but Thelma wants her to sit in the chair. I help. Once she’s in the chair, she cheers up a bit and feels a little better. She eats and drinks something, but not much. Annet calls to ask if I can come and look at the house at Piscadera Bay Resort on Sunday, because it’s due to be handed over on Monday and she wants me to check for any irregularities or things that haven’t been done properly. Sunday isn’t a good day for me, as I’m going out with Mem. ‘I’d rather go there now,’ I say. At 11:30 a.m., I arrive at PBResort. We still see many things that could have been done better, especially the paintwork is sloppy in places.
I drive to Mambo Beach to buy new flip-flops, Havaianas, in the flip-flop shop. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a few days.
Success.
Then back home, a half-hour drive from Mambo Beach.
When I get home, a lady from the Archaeological Archive is there to talk to Mama Irma. At Landhuis Rif, the annual archaeological excavation has taken place, with experts from Canada, the Netherlands and Curaçao.
Among other things, they had excavated an old Model T Ford. The lady wanted to know as much as possible from Mama Irma about Landhuis Rif Saint Marie. She also showed her the maps of Johannes Werbata, born in Padang in the Dutch East Indies. Between 1906 and 1909, he mapped the entire island at the request of the Curaçao government, which needed maps to develop a system of dams to collect rainwater for agriculture. He was selected for this task on the basis of his knowledge of the tropics and his work experience. Using topographical surveys (on a donkey) and the system of triangulation, he mapped roads, clearings, wells, plantations and country houses. His maps are among the most detailed ever made of Curaçao.
At 4.30 p.m., the lady leaves and I go for a swim.
At 7 p.m., I thought I would see a beautiful sunset, but in the end it is cloudy. I talk to Angelina, who is working her penultimate day. Tomorrow, her last day, she will be thrown into the water, a farewell ritual. I am curious to see it.
At 10 p.m., I go to bed.